Magic Alignments
Magic Alignments are separated in three main groups in magic: abstract, elemental and strange. Abstract and Elemental both have four alignments (dark-light, summoning-banishing and earth-wind, water-fire, respectively) while the third, Strange, has only two (life-death). Abstract alignments tend to be complementary in pairs, but not contrary to one another. Their effects can apply over abstract concepts or non-physical realities. Elemental alignments grant control over forces of nature, and tend to be dual: sometimes constructive, sometimes destructive. Strange alignments are defined as polyvalent and rather ambiguous: they are often mistaken with the opposite of what they actually represent or do. The alignments are mainly used in the novel series, and the animated pilot. Abstract 'Dark' People aligned with dark magic are prone to have "dark" personalities, being mean or evil, although this is not always the case. This kind of magic grants abilities related to obscurity and somber, such as the control of the Shadowlings, light absorption as a way to gain power (which consequentially surrounds everything into darkness), nightmare induction and control over other's dreams, the ability of turning people or objects into shadows, the skill of turning anyone blind (or undo their blindness), mind reading or prediction of future and past events (because these are "in the darkness of mind" or "in the darkness of time", respectively). Also, those who are dark-aligned can learn to transform the day into night, to cause eclipses and even to use shadows to create solid substances or objects. : Users: It has been suggested that the Earl of Wax was able to practice it, but it was never confirmed. The Shadowlings are aligned with dark magic. 'Light' It is a magic often related to virtue and purity. This is not accurate, though, since light-aligned people can also be evil. However, those aligned with light tend to constantly acquire new knowledge or be wise by nature. This is why in Candle Cove (and even more in the Abyssal Kingdom), light magic is related to intelligence. An ability granted by light magic is "to see" the light inside people, therefore knowing their true self (soul, nature, consciousness, etc.). Other abilities granted by light are the power to destroy shadows at will, the capability to illuminate dark areas, colour absorption and/or colour manipulation, natural light (sun, fireflies, fire) manipulation, invisibility, generation of illusions and shapeshifting (since it is only a distortion of the light that comes to the eye of the beholder) etc. Light also allows to learn how to turn the night into day or use light to create protector shields around people and ships. : Users: Talapio, member of the Tarantula crew in the novel series, is aligned with light, and is also an example of magic transferring in a non-human creature. 'Summoning' For historic reasons, summoning magic has been associated with catastrophes, monsters and evil. This is because summoners are often unaware of what they are summoning, or even if they do, they might not know the consequences their actions could have over the world. Apart of the main ability of summoning, this kind of magic offers other abilities such as the creation of objects or people (these don't necessarily have to be real; this is why most of summoning-gifted kids usually have a lot of "imaginary friends"), the ability to appear in any other place of the world with just a thought (in this case is necessary for the summoner to know where s/he is and where does s/he want to be), the capability to change any object by another (summoning one in the place of the other), among others less known and common. Summoners tend to be dependent on others they have summoned. : Users: This kind of magic exists within one of the show's main villains, Horace Horrible: his powers allowed him to bring the Skin-Taker back from his exile. 'Banishing' Complementary of the above mentioned, but not opposite of it. Banishing is considered by some magicians as the power of "summoning-out", since the person able to banish can take any matter or energy and move it to a different place. Banishing magic allows to destroy matter and living beings, but not energy. If a banisher doesn't know where s/he wants to send something, then that something will be randomly transported somewhere else (which could be just two meters to the left or another dimension). Besides of this ability, banishing grants powers like making memories from within a person's mind disappear (making even possible to cause permanent amnesia), universe and dimensional destruction (this has the limitation that a banisher cannot destroy the world nor dimension he is currently inhabiting) and gravity distortion (the magician is able to banish weight on one side of something and put it anywhere else). Many Banishers use their abilities to try and banish anything that happens to upset them. For example, some banishers have been known to banish tax collectors. : No Known Users NOTE: When a summoner and a banisher use their powers together, they can manage to produce a teleportation effect, that can be applied over themselves or over other people/objects. Elemental 'Wind' The magic of air, gales, tornadoes, storms, lightnings and any other thing that can be found in the skies. Just like most of the rest of alignments, wind hasn't appeared in the show. People aligned with wind usually are very fast, can jump very high, or even fly; this last one is implied to be very rare. They are capable of creating mini-tornadoes or storms (including rain, lightnings and thunders), and in some cases they can use their powers to blow bullets away from them, or even entire ships (which is why they are valuable assets to sailing vessels). They also can hold more air in their lungs than the average person, and hold their breath longer, too. These two abilities added to a regular swimming skill make them excellent divers, thing for what they are also valuable among pirate crews. They tend to be very energetic, rarely being tired or sleepy. Although sometimes calmed or apparently mild-tempered, wind-aligned people can explode into rage if provoked, blowing away everything on their path or turning a person into ashes with just a thunderbolt. : Users: The Abyssal Birds are aligned with wind magic, plus they are the only non-human nor non-Abyssian beings who can display some true wind magic. It is also implied in the novel series that Auburn is wind aligned 'Earth' It is related to mountains, caves and rocks, but also volcanoes, earthquakes and geysers. A person with earth powers can generate, modify or destroy the mentioned geological elements at will. However, is known that earth magic does not grant control over lava or magma. Generally, those with this alignment can only control one type of geological feature by birth, and will take a long and hard time to learn to control others. Other abilities that they can learn are magnetism, detection of diamonds and other jewels, and very rarely, movement of planetary bodies made of rock. Earth aligned people are also very strong, even if they're scrawny. They can burrow underground, create earth golems for a short time, and change the ground beneath them (such as turning rock into quicksand). Some of them can also control plants. They often make their homes out of earth, and are paid to make stone homes for others. These homes usually are completely earthquake-proof. They tend to have stable personalities, being pacific but determined, never yielding to others but also never imposing over others. : No Known Users 'Water' Opposite of fire, this magic can be used to neutralize fire powers or natural fire-related events. Water-aligned people, just like wind-aligned, tend to be very calm and peaceful at first sight. However, their patience is limited and their temperament can change as easily as water, passing from cold ice to boiling steam. Luckily, is hard to make a water-aligned person angry, since their pacifism is genuine, unlike wind-aligned. They are unusual in the fact that everyone aligned with water magic can breathe underwater, with no exceptions, making it more a perk than a power. Fast swimming is also very common among these magicians. Water magic can grant other powerful abilities, such as making water appear from nowhere, turn water into steam or ice (or vice-versa), turn oneself into water to escape from any place or to be insensitive to physical damage, create objects of water, move lakes or rivers at will, summon or generate rain, waves, floods, etc. Is implied that this is one of the less common types of magic, along with life and death magics. : Users: The Merpeople, Snowlems, and Coral Reefers are aligned with water magic. Strangely, even being water magic one of the less common alignments in humans, it seems to be the more common alignment in element people. 'Fire' Opposite of water, and usually vulnerable to it. Even though, fire magic is considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable alignments. People aligned with it can manipulate fire in different ways, such like creating it out of thin air, breathing it, turning into it, etc. Some need fire already made or present in their environment to work with it, though. Advanced fire-aligned magicians can make fire appear or burn uncommon targets: they can, for example, make fire appear over liquid water, or melt rocks or people down (also summoning lava from within the earth). It is known that some of the rarest fire powers include abilities such as causing spontaneous combustion over any object or being, and increase the temperature of the land until turning it into an ocean of magma. Along with the alignment, fire magicians have a fiery temper, that often makes them lose their patience at the slightest chance; their nature is not docile, but dominant and tyrannical. Because of this, fire aligned Abyssians go through rigorous -and sometimes harsh- training to make sure they have control over their abilities. Unfortunately, they not always manage to have control over themselves. : Users: Red Mary is the only character identified with fire powers. The Ash People are also aligned with fire magic. Strange 'Life' Usually centered around healing. Life is considered an ambiguous alignment because people who is gifted with it can both use it to do good or evil. For example, the ability to heal is also the ability to absorb health, therefore allowing the magician to reverse the effects of healing, and thus making people's injuries worse. The same way, life-aligned people can revive others as they were before dieing, but they can turn corpses into zombies, too. Life magic can also grant powers related with plants (making them grow, making them bruise, etc.) and the ability to bring inanimate objects to life. Some life-aligned are good potion makers, and know a variety of healing herbs and concoctions. Any other attribute or power that this magic could grant is unknown, since life magic is extremely rare, even among Abyssians. Life is not completely different from death magic, but not completely equal either: both can be confused with one another very easily. : No Known Users 'Death' There is a wide range of death aligned abilities, such as various different methods of speaking with the dead, necromancy, poisoning, life draining, etc. However, death-aligned people can also reverse the effects of natural death, and heal others (this is why it is ambiguous and often mistaken by life magic). People aligned with death tend to think of the dead not as dead, but as a different form of living. These philosophical implications often drive death-aligned to develop dangerous psychotic reasonings, ending by talking only about living death, instead of life and death by separated. While most people's concepts of death revolve around never being able to interact with that person again, many death-aligned people are able to speak with the dead, but in a different way than speaking with the living. Thus, their concept of it is different than most people's, since they are still able to interact with the deceased. Those death-aligned whose main abilities revolve around speaking with the dead are considered highly valuable, but also highly feared, since they can unleash terrible curses if the dead they talked too became angry. : Users: One of the main villains of the show, the Skin-Taker, is known to had been death aligned, and keeps his abilities even after being physically destroyed. The Fungus Monsters are also aligned with death magic. Category:Show